Things you've done to simplify your life

[faithfulbird20]

Less laundry and drying will be mine for this year. I used to wash everything mostly after one wear. Especially my kids clothes. Just realised no wonder our clothes don't last and look dull really easily.

@Anordinarymum

I have a cabinet. I've filled it with my beloved French porcelain. It's full now but after the house clearance I decided to stop.
Neither of my adult children are interested in it.
If they were to flog it all it wouldn't yield that much.
It's really hard but I knew that , once I'd gone, my collection would be meaningless.

It might be worth something one day, but not in my children's lifetime so they'd have to store it and pass it on themselves.

Were I to have a collection of rare Meissen then that would be very different. A collection of pretty pots and dishes... no.

Any date goes straight in calendar with alert

And flag important emails

I’ve got better at doing it straight away and it does help

I left my stressful and long hours job a few months ago in order to simplify our lives and to reduce stress on our whole family. Appreciate that it isn’t an option that would appeal to everyone but it has meant that the extra “job” of managing bought in services, the wrap around and emergency childcare, the dog walking etc etc has fallen away and life certainly feels simplified

@Minibea I respect you for that. It takes a brave person to leave their job.

[quote DroopyClematis]@Anordinarymum

I have a cabinet. I've filled it with my beloved French porcelain. It's full now but after the house clearance I decided to stop.
Neither of my adult children are interested in it.
If they were to flog it all it wouldn't yield that much.
It's really hard but I knew that , once I'd gone, my collection would be meaningless.

It might be worth something one day, but not in my children's lifetime so they'd have to store it and pass it on themselves.

Were I to have a collection of rare Meissen then that would be very different. A collection of pretty pots and dishes... no. [/quote]
I have rare collection of pottery made by my children at nursery.. including a slug and Vincent Van Goghs ear along with other creations that are of no use to anyone ! All in there lovingly preserved.

I paid almost 2K for the cabinet twenty five years ago ( I sold shares to buy it) and I saw a similar one being sold on FB marketplace for £100 recently.

No ironing and hiring a cleaner

Recurring grocery delivery each week.
Meal plan
Ready meals 3 nights a week on busy evenings

And i just have one type of shampoo/conditioner/shower gel/moisturiser. No thinking required

Got a cleaner. Bloody life saver.
Dog walker for when I’m working - have three dogs.
Robot hoover on daily ( to pick up the dog hairs). Also bloody life saver
Weekly online shop

[quote faithfulbird20]@wizzler I need to do this with people too. Do you just suddenly decide your not going to? I love giving but the receiving can be stressful. My daughter got 2 dresses last year both had to go to the charity shop because of the material (scratchy and itchy). [/quote]
Now is the ideal time to say that you won't be giving presents to whoever next Christmas . They have a year to get over it. Birthdays may be sooner but do that now too. Just a light message to say that you are having a sort out of lots of aspects of your life and no longer want to receive presents and won't be sending any.

Have a massive clear out / clear up of your house when you have a couple of days off. Sort the cupboards everywhere , one at a time. Set a timer. Sort the freezer and put a supply of delicious ready meals in there next time you shop. Get rid of threadbare duvet covers etc that you never use. They are taking up space.Get rid of piles of magazines,any junk mail. If you have a million casserole dishes ,mugs at the back of the cupboard,spice jars from 2002 get rid. If you have old towels in your airing cupboard get rid. You never use them and they are taking up space. Walking into ordered rooms is so freeing for the brain. Once it is done keep it up. A place for everything and everything in its place. Easy once you have got rid of the crap.

Nice thread.

Something we've been doing is 'Cook once, eat twice' at least once a week. Things like:
Make a chilli and eat with rice on day one and jacket potato or wedges on day two;
Make a spag bol sauce and eat with penne on day one then turn into pasta bake on day two (cook twice as much penne on day one);
Roast a load of vege and eat with pasta pesto on day one and cous cous and feta on day two.
If anybody has other veggie suggestions for these, that would be great!

Food is definitely something I need to simplify now that there's just two of us most of the time.

Definitely agree with the 'One in, one out rule' about books.

I no longer buy shower gel, bubble bath, liquid hand soap etc - just bar soap in both bathroom and kitchen.

Sort out work clothes the night before, and make lunch box. Boring but definitely helpful. In terms of work lunches, I tend to have the same thing every day for a week so I don't need to think about it.

A 1950's style meal plan so same dish each night (to be fair maybe it's 4 week rotation).
Monday- something cooked in the oven whilst dinner on Sunday is cooking so bolongaise, chilli, curry
Tuesday - DIY night or simple pasta
Wednesday -stir fry
Thursday - Soup
Fri -Pizza

Watching with interest as nearly posted something similar myself

Go through drawers. Get rid of sad ,saggy , baggy pants and bras and replace with fresh new ones. They don't need to be expensive . If your bra fits properly you stand taller and your clothes look better.It doesn't matter how expensive the dress on top is ,it will still look awful if you are doing the 4 bosom look of a bra cup that is too small.
Get rid of socks that have shrunk,have no partner, aren't useful or pleasing to you.
Tee shirts that are past their best are useful when you have grubby jobs to do ,but you only need 2 not 22. Donate as a rag bag to the charity shop.
Polish your shoes.
Clear the odd ,weird crap out of your handbag. A powerful ,ballsy woman has an organised handbag. Better for your shoulders/posture too.
Sort your wardrobe. Wooden hangers are better and they aren't expensive from wilko/poundland.
Sort what you have into sections ...work shirts,work trousers, smart casual , jeans etc. If you are stuck with putting things together in the same way all the time go on pinterest. Put in trench coat outfit, black jeans outfit, autumn outfit etc. You will get loads of ideas of new ways to wear the things you already have. Very importantly, if things are far too big/small let them go. If things are itchy or frumpy or just wrong for your body shape, let them go You will never, ever wear them and they are giving your brain the idea you have nothing to wear .

In addition to what others have said I simplified my approach to clothes a while ago and really rate it. For daily wear it’s a jumper in a particularly flattering cut, well cut jeans and chelsea boots. In summer wrap dresses in bright prints paired with trainers. Suits me and I can dress without thinking most of the time. Obviously wouldn’t suit anyone with the proverbial passion for fashion.

And yy to bulk cooking and just simple meals. I buy chicken pieces, those Maggi cook in the bag things and a few potatoes, bung in the oven and hey presto, six portions of food done in an hour with under five minutes’ prep.

One thing I do which really helps is I order all bday cards for family that I would normally send, in Jan and schedule delivery. I have used moonpig previously, using thortful this year. I dont send many, and this isn't the cheapest way to do it but I sit and do it at the start of Jan and then I dont have to think at all through the year!
Yes, to having pet food on subsciption.
I must get back to meal planning as well as that has fallen by the wayside a bit.
And my bullet journal is a life changer. EVERYTHING is written in there - then I cant forget!

@TheWayTheLightFalls

In addition to what others have said I simplified my approach to clothes a while ago and really rate it. For daily wear it’s a jumper in a particularly flattering cut, well cut jeans and chelsea boots. In summer wrap dresses in bright prints paired with trainers. Suits me and I can dress without thinking most of the time. Obviously wouldn’t suit anyone with the proverbial passion for fashion.

And yy to bulk cooking and just simple meals. I buy chicken pieces, those Maggi cook in the bag things and a few potatoes, bung in the oven and hey presto, six portions of food done in an hour with under five minutes’ prep.

I agree completely about clothes . My winter wardrobe is now roll neck(non itchy) jumpers in a maximum 3 available colours. Worn with knee length skirts or jeans in colours that fit with the jumpers. Shoes are brogues/knee high boots or loafers. All regularly polished/ reheeled so they last and last. Summer wardrobe is jeans,tee shirt with warmer cotton tops for colder days. Deck shoes. Or maxi dresses with long sleeves (don't like my 56 year old arms) and sandals/deck shoes. Both looks mean no need for shaving legs /fake tanning etc if no time . The clothes suit me, I feel good in them and I need to give the bare minimum amount of time to deciding what to wear.

Pink stuff and Fairy liquid for cleaning everything in the kitchen.
Pink stuff tackles bathroom too.

Love this thread! I’m so trying to live with less but is difficult with 2 children, a baby and a messy husband!

Do any of you have one of everything? One shower gel, one perfume, one shampoo, one all purpose spray? How does it work for you? Do you get bored or don't care?

I have just one of all of those - do some people have multiple shower gels and choose one each day? I’m not a big perfume wearer so that doesn’t get boring but I can see how if you were, you might want more than one. The others though, I guess it’s just never occurred to me to buy two different shampoos to choose from.

Although if by spray you mean cleaning spray, I have two, but one upstairs in the bathroom, one downstairs in the kitchen.

On the days I work I tell my DC (15 & 17to have a proper school dinner so I don't have to cook a big tea. Total game changer.

This is a fabulous thread - and some great suggestions I'm taking on board.

@Excitedforthefuture How do you actually DO this, though? I'm a natural procrastinator and require extreme pressure to get anything done. I even chose a career that has multiple deadlines a day otherwise I'd achieve nothing.
I want to change, this is a quality I loathe about myself and definitely makes my life more difficult than it needs to be.
But how do you make it happen, rather than slipping into old habits?

@DroopyClematis My MIL's house was like this when we had to deal with it. Charity shops turning us away etc. And yet we've amassed all kinds of crap over the years. We are planning to move this year and I intend to be extremely ruthless. I'm even considering letting every one of my CDs go, which would be a big step.

One of the first things I did was make time to think about how I wanted my life to look. I crossed out every Sunday on my calendar to make some time for reflection and jotting ideas and formulating an overarching plan. Sometimes it's easy to tinker with minutiae and miss the the big picture.

When I had time to explore and gain a clearer understanding of why my life wasn't simple, I created the roadmap for getting there. I worked on simplifying and securing finances first. This probably made the biggest impact in simple living.